Anti-scalant additives have been commonly utilized in water-based systems where scale build-up on water-contacting surfaces is undesired. Examples of such systems include re-circulating water cooling systems, water treatment facilities, and other applications that utilize controlled water circulation for various purposes. In embodiments such as re-circulating cooling systems, scale deposits on the water-contacting surfaces thereof can build up over time, thereby reducing the effectiveness of coolant water flow through the system. Manual maintenance of such systems to remove scale build-up is both time-consuming and expensive to system operators.
In order to assist in minimizing the formation of such scale deposits, anti-scale additives have been incorporated into the controlled water body of water based systems such as re-circulating water cooling systems. Such commonly utilized anti-scale additives include, for example, phosphonates, polyacrylates, and polyaspartic acid. The anti-scale chemicals identified above, as well as other commonly utilized anti-scale chemicals, have proven to be relatively effective in preventing the formation of scale deposits on water-contacting surfaces of the associated water systems. However, increasing pressure by governmental regulatory administrations has resulted in the promulgation of stricter water quality controls, which have correspondingly resulted in the restricted use of certain chemicals in water supplies that may ultimately be released into the environment. In addition, it has become an effective business strategy to market materials that are environmentally friendly, and which do not have permanent negative impacts on the environment.
Moreover, systems incorporating controlled water bodies such as re-circulating cooling systems face the additional issue of corrosion in water-contacting surfaces of such systems. In order to address the corrosion issue, system operators have been forced to utilize corrosion inhibiting additives that are separate and distinct from the scale inhibiting additives described above.
It is therefore a principal object of the present invention to provide a combination anti-scalant and anti-corrosion composition that is biodegradable.
It is a further object of the present invention to provide a composition having an anti-scalant ingredient and one or more corrosion inhibiting agents that are both biodegradable and derived from naturally occurring and renewable resources.